Tribute to Monroe Williams

I found out last night that Monroe Williams (16) had passed away. He was a great friend to my younger brother David and I always enjoyed talking to him. It breaks my heart to hear that such a great young man had passed away but I am confident that he is now glorifying God in Heaven. That thought brings a smile to my face.

When I think about Monroe, the first thing that comes to mind is the one question he would always ask me without fail every time he saw me, "Justin, are you strong?" as he would arm wrestle me in the air. Thinking about that both makes me laugh and brings tears to my eyes.

This summer my intern team's motto has been "Our ClarkDo is strong." which means that we are a strong team who strives to do the best work we can do here. I'm wearing my intern team shirt right now and on the front of the shirt is written, "Is your ClarkDo strong?" in Czech. As I think about Monroe's question to me and look at my shirt I realize that I may be strong and my team may work as hard as we can. However, all of that strength is founded on one thing and one thing alone: CHRIST. Christ is my continual source of strength and peace as I continue on in my internship and as I think about the great man this world has lost.

So yes Monroe, I am strong. But I am not strong because of my own strength rather because of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died and rose again for my sins. With this in mind, I'm ready for my third and final English camp here in Czech. I'm excited to see how God will work at this camp and my thoughts and prayers are with the Williams family and everyone mourning the loss of Monroe. Please lift them up in prayer these next couple months.

This camp is for you Monroe.

Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,
        O LORD of hosts!
    My soul longs, yes, faints
        for the courts of the LORD;
    my heart and flesh sing for joy
        to the living God.
    Even the sparrow finds a home,
        and the swallow a nest for herself,
        where she may lay her young,
    at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
        my King and my God.
    Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
        ever singing your praise! Selah
    Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
        in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
    As they go through the Valley of Baca
        they make it a place of springs;
        the early rain also covers it with pools.
    They go from strength to strength;
        each one appears before God in Zion.
    O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
        give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
    Behold our shield, O God;
        look on the face of your anointed!
    For a day in your courts is better
        than a thousand elsewhere.
    I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
        than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
    For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
        the LORD bestows favor and honor.
    No good thing does he withhold
        from those who walk uprightly.
    O LORD of hosts,
        blessed is the one who trusts in you!

First Camp with Nove Mesto/Hejnice!

It's been a while since I last blogged. We spent a month preparing our English lessons and other things for camp. It was very task oriented  and I've definitely grown a lot through this time! Our weekends during that time were taken up by city visits to the churches with whom we will be doing camps. The city visits went well and it got me excited for each camp. Two weeks ago we left our home base in Usti and started our cycle of training and camp. Our camp with Nove Mesto/Hejnice ended this past Saturday and I'll focus on that week in this post.


Campers arrived on Saturday the 7th and it was so great meeting them/seeing them again! At camp we hit the ground running and never stopped until it was over. Between English class, organized activities, meals, evening songs and lesson, and discussion group each day is totally packed. Even though it was busy, it was definitely high energy the whole week and everyone was having a great time. The English class/discussion group I helped teach was mostly made up of students I had met on my Spring Break trip to Czech. It was such a blessing getting to see them all again and spend so much time with them! This was one of my favorite parts of camp. My roommates were so funny and we enjoyed hanging out for a couple hours each night before bed. I also led the camp songs each night on guitar. Leading a group of people in songs was a first for me but it went really well. All in all, camp was great! I'm looking forward to the next camp! 

• One thing that I really want to ask your prayer for is that I'm still about 700 dollars short in my fundraising. I need to raise that money before I go back to America on August 17th. Please pray that I will receive the money and if you are able I would ask that you consider supporting me through this link:  https://www.josiahventure.com/give/people/368 Thanks so much!

-Please be praying for the churches in Nove Mesto and Hejnice and they continue to serve in their area. 
-Pray for the students that came to camp! They're great and I'm going to miss them all.
-Pray for our next camp that it goes well!

Commissioned and sent!

I've just spent the last week at Hotel Melenovice, which is Josiah Venture's conference/training center, getting equipped to do my summer ministry. It was an incredible time of growth for me as we learned key things about our ministry as well as studied more about the Holy Spirit. During this time, I got to know many of the interns who will be serving in the Czech Republic as well as other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Overall, this was a truly incredible experience that I know has set the intern teams up to serve God even better this summer! It was sad saying goodbye to so many new friends but it is incredibly encouraging to know that we are spreading across Europe to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to the nations. On the last night of training, all the interns gathered together to pray for each countries intern teams and it feels so good to be commissioned and sent into Czech to serve! My intern team travelled to Nove Mesto today and it has been such a blessing getting to fellowship with the Christians here. This is one of the towns we visited on my spring break trip so I've enjoyed getting to reconnect with friends from then as well as make some new friends.  In just a few short months, there are so many new stories of how GOD IS WORKING IN THIS PLACE! It's great to hear!

Here's a couple prayer requests:

• Praise that I am fully recovered from whatever made me sick
• Pray for the health for all my team throughout this summer
• Pray for the schools we will be visiting tomorrow that students will decide to come to camp
• Pray for the teams spread across Central and Eastern Europe that they will be fully effective
• Pray for all the English camps taking place this summer 

Day 2 of the Amazing Race

Today is my second day in Poland! We're currently in the middle of the amazing race which I can't really say much about because I missed all yesterday's activities. Yesterday I started feeling sick on my flight to Frankfurt. On my second flight to Krakow, I threw up in grand fashion. I spent the rest of the day with a good amount of stomach pain and threw up a couple more times. Due to the extent of my stomach pain, I slept all afternoon rather than participating in the amazing race with my team. I'm guessing I may have gotten food poisoning but I don't know what caused it. Fortunately, I'm feeling a ton better today and am ready to race with my team! Looking forward to what's in store for the rest of the amazing race and I'm hoping I can write again soon! Please be praying that I will continue to feel better and that the amazing race goes well for all of the interns!